Deadly Drogheda bring Wilton United’s FAI Cup run to an end
Munster Senior League side were hammered by their League of Ireland opponents on Friday night
Douglas James-Taylor and Bridel Bosakani both bagged hat-tricks at Weavers Park on Friday night as Wilton United were emphatically defeated by Drogheda United in the third round of the Sports Direct Men’s FAI Cup.
Wilton had defeated Glebe North and fellow Cork side Carrigaline United on route to this phase of the competition, but this always going to be a major step up for Edward McCarthy’s side and it was made all the more difficult when Drogheda manager Kevin Doherty selected the same starting 11 that earned a draw against Shamrock Rovers in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division five days earlier.
The hosts meant business from the word go and broke the deadlock in the 10th minute when James-Taylor dispatched a penalty to the net after Ireoluwa Olajitan was adjudged to have fouled Luke Heeney. Before Wilton had an opportunity to settle back down, James-Taylor was back in front of the spot as a result of wing-back Conor Kane being upended inside the box and he made no mistake with his second effort from 12 yards.
The English native had four goals in six games for Drogheda heading into this contest and he ensured he came away with the match ball by clinically firing home via a Shane Farrell pull-back on 21 minutes.
There was to be a further blow for Wilton in the form of Ryan Brennan’s headed finish off a Farrell corner just past the half-hour and with four goals separating the teams at the break, the Munster Senior League outfit were effectively playing for pride on the resumption.
Yet even though Doherty opted to make three changes for the start of the second half, Drogheda continued to dominate proceedings and Frantz Pierrot made it 5-0 for the top-flight side with a neat strike a little over 60 seconds after the restart.
A sixth goal arrived for Drogs in the shape of Andrew Quinn’s header on the stroke of 50 minutes, but Wilton custodian Jack Gibbons raised a cheer when he subsequently produced an outstanding point-blank save from James-Taylor.
However, despite the likes of Hayden McCarthy and Brian Boyd offering fresh legs for Wilton off the bench, substitute Bosakani rounded off a ruthless Drogheda display with a spectacular hat-trick of goals inside the final quarter.
Luke Dennison; Andrew Quinn, David Webster (Aaron Harper Bailey, 46 mins), James Bolger; Elicha Ahui (Warren Davis, 46 mins), Ryan Brennan (Darragh Markey, 46 mins), Luke Heeney (Gary Deegan, 52 mins), Conor Kane; Shane Farrell, Douglas James-Taylor (Bridel Bosakani, 67 mins), Frantz Pierrot.
Jack Gibbons; Daniel Murphy (Callum Long, 73 mins), Evan Murphy, Ireoluwa Olajitan; Frank Down, Ian Roche, Ben Ryan (Brian Boyd, 65 mins), Shay Daly (Aaron O’Connor, 73 mins), Jason Cullinane (Ralf Molotokas, 85 mins); James O’Sullivan; Jason Hogan (Hayden McCarthy, 65 mins).
Eoghan O’Shea (Tipperary).